Gilded Angels
by QueenofBloodandTears
Summary: Sequel to Three Graces (under my other penname Vader's Mistress). Three years after the end of that story, the King is ailing and to secure his dynasty he marries his only son to his favorite granddaughter Margaret Boleyn. Will this save the Tudor dynasty or condemn it? And what will this mean for lady Elizabeth and her cousins?
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I recommend everyone reading Three Graces first (It is under my other account and Pen-name Vader's Mistress) before you venture into this one. For those familiar with the story, I have made one significant change. Maggie Tudor, the Third Grace and third daughter of KOA and Henry VIII is no longer a part of the story. She died along with her husband as a result of the plague which I sped up to 1549 instead of 1551 so her surviving children, Thomas Henry and Eleanor (Nor) are royal wards and known by their inherited titles of Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey and Lady Eleanor Howard. (Yes, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk succumbed to the plague here so no meddlesome Duke here either but there are other candidates who will occupy his post).

The year is 1550. There has been a lot of unrest in England. Henry is not yet dead, thanks to his present wife Katherine Howard whom he has not minded her inability to give him a son (due to his daughters' giving him many and Edward's improving health) and who has encouraged him to lead a healthier life. As a result Henry fulfills his ambitions of seeing his favorite granddaughter Margaret _Boleyn_ married to his son, Prince Edward. Here is where the story starts at their wedding night.  
>Enjoy!<p>

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><p><em>"Love is complicated. It is submissive and yet it isn't. It takes you to places you wouldn't dream of and then it makes you Her Slave. You are slave to love, slave to lust and finally slave to misery." ~Anonymous<em>

Margaret hated the sight of her betrothed. She begged her mother not to let her grandfather marry her to him. Father will understand -she told her. -He has been opposed to the match. But her mother told her in a clear and steady voice that her grandfather was the King and as a result, they had to do whatever he commanded of them.

She shrunk at his close proximity to her. Her lord grandfather, his father and her parents were outside. _"I will wait outside the door and force you on him if needs be!"_ Her father roared when she sunk to her knees and begged him not to let her marry him. The King and his only son, had not yet come. Henry was with his son teaching him about the many dos and don'ts of sexual intercourse. The King did not intend for his son to come a virgin. His father had done the same mistake with him and Arthur and that had created a great chaos. Never again -he declared to her the night prior to their wedding. _"I promise to you my dear child, you and your husband will enjoy a happy marriage, the kind I enjoyed with your cousin's mother."_

In reality he was both her uncle and cousin but Margaret did not have the hear to correct him. This was an important day for him as well as for her parents. They didn't want her to marry Edward. To them, she was so insignificant but the King was the King as her mother (his second eldest daughter) told her, and he meant her to marry his only son whom he considered his worldly jewel.

She bowed her head to him and did a quick curtsy. After tonight she would cease being Margaret Boleyn, the cuckold her mother had placed on the last Boleyn's crib and become Margaret Tudor, Queen of England. It was something that should have made her feel proud and even happy but there was nothing happy about marrying a boy who was eight months your junior and who had spent his last days practicing on two wenches and who obsessed over you since the day they had use of reason because you were the only one who looked exactly like him.

When he lifted her chin, she saw her own reflection staring back at her. They could pass of as twins. Indeed, they almost had. When they were young, her lord grandfather the King of England would carry her in his arms, ignoring the pain in his legs and boast about her to all the foreign ambassadors. _"She is my angel, beautiful as my late wife, my son's mother, and my greatest source pride"_ He declared, after his own son, Prince Edward whom his mother had given her life to give birth to.

Queen Jane, as she was fondly remembered had never been crowned but that did not stop her lord grandfather from remembering her fondly and after his son had regained his health, he began teaching him about the business of kingship. He claimed he had a prophetic dream where his mother came to him and told him that if he didn't raise him well, tragedy would befall upon him and his entire dynasty. When he made the announcement, her father had vehemently opposed it but there was nothing else he could do except protest before parliament. _"She is too young."_ He claimed, calling her stepdaughter, unable to claim as his own as that would mean admitting that he and her mother had sinned when George Boleyn was still alive.

The King laughed and threw his hands in the air, boasting of good health in spite of his ulcerous leg. _"The Lady Margaret Boleyn is as worthy as any Princess. She will be the next Princess of Wales and the next Queen of England. If anyone opposes my judgment then let him speak now or forever hold his peace."_ The joke wasn't miss on anyone, least of all her father who forced his lips to shut. Her lady mother who was present came an hour later to tell her with a hardened tone that she would be Queen of England and did her the reverence that was owed to such women.

Margaret inwardly glowered. Her lady mother had always coveted that position, even more than her aunt Bella who was said to be the most ambitious woman in the kingdom after her aunt Bess. Mary Tudor had spent her days praying and reading classics, crafting a perfect image for herself and living by the virtues that the church found acceptable in women. Her mother had even co-authored with her late aunt Maggie and her second aunt Maggie Stewart, the Countess of Lennox, a behavioral manual for women. It sold out like crazy, replacing the other best known manual by the celebrated French-woman Christine de Pizan who held similar -albeit stricter- views.  
>Her lady aunt, Baroness Sudley approved of it except on the matter of religion where her mother and her lady aunts argued that it did not matter what religion a woman held unless she could use it to her lord husband's benefit. <strong><em>"A woman's value is in her mind. If she has no intellectual capacity then how can she mold good citizens. The future of her country and her household is in her hands. If her God is different than her lord husband's, should it matter? Unless her faith is contrary to her lord husband's business, then she should reconsider because her lord husband's business is her own and where he fails, she fails and God shall understand her conversion because God has placed women to work alongside men, not to stand above or beneath them."<em>**  
>It was a load of bullshit. Her mother always believed herself above her father. She was not dumb enough to admit it like her lady aunt Bella who was always so plain spoken and didn't care about who heard her as long as she was heard. Her mother was of a better stock than her father Edward Seymour and when they quarreled over business, she reminded him of where he stood -where he should stand- and subtly implied how everything he'd achieved was thanks to her.<p>

Her parents could make an interesting topic for a fictional book like Sir Thomas Mallory's fictional romance of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot from across the Lake. Both women were of royal stock, actively pursued by two men but unlike Guinevere who was forever condemned for her liaison to handsome but cowardly Lancelot, her mother got away with her affair with her father, marrying him two years after she was borne and three years after her first husband (George Boleyn) died.

Edward grinned. He looked intently on her, his eyes seemed to bore deep into her soul. She took a step back but he placed his hands on her shoulders and got her back to the same spot where she'd stood. "I know you are scared. But there are only two people that matter here and that is us."

He kissed her lips then her neck then told her to lift her arms to lift her chemise and she did, obediently following his other commands and laying down with her back against the bed.

It was going to hurt -Annie, her older half sibling told her. -You will feel like you are being crushed by a dozen bricks but then it will be replaced by a wondrous sensation.

She prayed that she was right. He closed her eyes but he spoke again and told her to open them. She did and saw his naked form. He was only twelve but he looked older because of her height. _We are the same height._ She realized. One perfect reflection of the other if he was female and she was male.

He looks with great interests at her breasts and begins fondling them. _Not like that_. His father told him when he lain with his first woman. She was just a girl of fourteen, a virgin and bastard daughter of a former Abbess who was a ward of the late Sir Thomas More's son. The King had paid a good price with her, gave her better food and rooms adjacent to Edward's and prior to their night, he told her what would happen. _Beatrice._ Her name was. Didn't seem too surprised and she admitted that she had experienced some sexual foreplay behind her ward's back. The King was pleased with this and brought her to Edward's rooms. He was twelve and a half but his father considered it was time. He was no stranger to orgasms or sex. He had heard plenty from his servants when they thought he was too busy studying or listening to his musicians play the Virginals or other instruments and he had experienced great stirrings since he was eleven when he began to see his cousin and niece as a woman and not as a child anymore.  
>The first lesson he'd learned was to be gentle. Women, especially virgins who had no knowledge of this, expected their first experience to be quick and without pain. He knew that was always impossible, but he could make it as pleasurable and as less painful as possible.<p>

Passing his hand through her golden blond head, which was the same color as his, he ran it all the way to the space between her legs which were shut. "I won't hurt you." He promised. But Margaret shook her head, shedding tears.

Edward got frustrated. He sighed. He remembered what he had done to the second one when she refused him. He had overpowered and taken her and afterwards she didn't complain anymore but he didn't want to do the same to Meggie. She was his other half, now more than ever they were going to unite their souls as one. He wanted this night to be special.

He sighed louder and started to get off the bed when Margaret suddenly wrapped her legs around his waist.

He grinned. "So, you are curious too?"

She nodded, mustering a small smile and bit her tongue to prevent her from saying what she really thought.

He had not hear but she had, her lord father clear his throat from beyond her chamber door. _"I will go there myself if I have to, Margaret Boleyn and your lord grandfather and I will hold you while Edward does the rest."_ She believed her father incapable, especially her grandfather who had always been so kind to her but he looked so mad when he said it that to avoid further humiliation she complied to his wishes and brought Edward closer.

He kissed her again, hungrily, passionately, drawing breath from her lips then whispered in her ear "Not yet." First he wanted to show her special things.

She braced herself for the pain. It never came. Instead she felt something ... something odd. "It tickles" She said then "Oh" and a deeper "Oh" closing her eyes and feeling like a foreign entity had possessed her.

Edward smirked, he placed a hand on her stomach to keep her from moving. She grasped the sheets and her back arched as he entered her again, making all his way through her core, exploring the deeper walls of her cave. When she released, he came up and took her hands, bracing her for what was about to come.

He entered her hard and fast. Meggie grunted, screamed then her body shook. She gritted her teeth as he kept droving harder in her, destroying the soft walls of her cave.

Annie lied. It was anything but enjoyable. It hurt and she was bleeding, she could feel a cold liquid escaping from her cave and dripping on the special bed-sheet her lady mother had placed as proof of the consummation. She shed more tears as he kept stabbing her. She begged the All Merciful Lord that it would stop but then as she was about to faint from the pain, it was replaced by something better ... wondrous ... The same feeling she had felt earlier when he drove his mouth into her, but augmented.

She arched her back again and grasped his hands tighter, moving at the same pace as he, and responding to her body's needs.

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><p>She felt disgusted with herself when she woke up and found herself wrapped in his arms and smelled the blood that had dripped from her sex the night before. There was no question about it. The marriage had been consummated and she officially the Prince of Wales' consort and Queen-to-be.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **To the anonymous review, thank you so much for your review and yes this is a sequel to Three Graces and I am glad you enjoyed that however Four Fates is in itself another alternate outcome of Three Graces, I was leaning on this one before Four Fates but at the time I decided to do Four Fates instead of this one because FF seemed easier but this is the one I am going to be focused on now.

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><p><em>"John Milton wrote 'Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven'. The actual quote should be better to rule in Hell, to make yourself powerful against all odds and use the unhappiness your family has brought to destroy the injustice of heaven." ~Lady Persephone<em>

Margery sighed. She put her book down. Her mother had her reading another one of her behavioral manuals. Be a good girl Margery. Remember you are going to see your sister today, she is not your sister any longer. She is a Princess now and you must pay her due reverence. Margery hated this thing about reverence, duty. She found it pointless. She felt like a chess piece on a game being played against her will. She told her cousin Nor this all the time but as usual Nor did not pay attention to her complaints. She was too much in her own world to care about anything else.

And why should she? When she was beautiful and every boy wanted to go out with her. They were only nine and ten respectively but every boy was already after them. Her, for her money and the position her mother and father would held after her lord grandfather croaked and Nor for the prospect of being married to one of the most beautiful and richest heiresses in England, who had a drop of royal blood thanks to her mother, Margery's aunt Maggie Tudor who had been the late Countess of Surrey and the youngest daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon.

She wished she did not have to sit around all day, listening endlessly on her newest tutor, her aunt Bess' former tutor, Sir Roger Ascham preach about the new gospel and how ladies ought to pray and behave before other courtiers. He would have been a better tutor to that obnoxious know-it-all show-off Jane Grey. She was always wearing the best dresses (except on weekends of course when she wore plain black and white dresses, claiming that she was following on their aunt Bess and her sisters Annie and Meggie's examples as the only three good Protestant ladies in the kingdom besides herself and Margery's aunt, Katherine Parr) and showing off all the books she received from leaders abroad. Now that her sister was the Princess of Wales and future Queen she was going to be seen as the new leader of the Reformation movement and given all those books Jane was given. She voiced her thoughts aloud to Jane who just then came to visit her.

"So? Cousin Margaret is a good Protestant and about time we had another Protestant Queen. Since the times of your sister's mother, her namesake, we never had a good Queen. Now we will have a new one who will bring us to the edge of the golden world." She said echoing what she remembered Annie told her of her namesake when she celebrated her grandmother's death.

"But you won't be receiving anymore gifts from your friends in Germany, surely that must rankle you." She prompted.

Jane shook her head, shifting comfortably in her oak chair, until she reached the right position that made her look proud and erect. Just like a lady worthy of her position would. _To think that in three years we will be sisters._ Maybe less. Their mothers were anxious to unite their two families. Mary Somerset tried her best to form a friendship with their cousin Jane, but Jane always rebuffed her, smirking and giggling wildly when she saw her praying chapel, remarking _"How can God be in the bread if the baker made him?"_ and her ladies as usual, afraid to incur her wrath, laughed with her. _How can mother marry my brother to someone like her?_ She wished something happened to her so she wouldn't have to marry her brother. It sounded mean but she didn't picture herself living under the same roof as Jane, while she waited hopelessly for her impending betrothal to Marcus.

"Of course not. Why would it?" She giggled, showing her perfect white teeth through her open smile. Roger Ascham praised her, and told Margery she should smile more often like her. "Margaret is going to be the next Queen and as such there will be much more learning and true faith spread across the land." She turned to Sir Ascham. "Is it not wonderful Sir Ascham that after all you and Bullinger have discussed with me and my lord father, it has finally come to pass? Finally we are going to see a golden age."

"Yes my lady it is something truly wonderful. The Good Lord has bless us but we must be careful because the walls have ears and with all due respect the good lady's mother here might report us and we might end up a head shorter." He made a motion with his finger and a mock noise as he passed it through his neck.

Jane and he laughed.  
>"Oh Sir Asham, you are quite the jester. Lady Margery here has been having trouble with her translation of the old testament." She lowered her voice and putting a hand to the left side of her mouth, she said "I think she doesn't agree with any of it." Then she put it to her mouth and gave a mock gasp. "We might have something to do about it or we will have a heretic in our midst."<p>

Sir Roger Asham chuckled, nodding. "What is it you don't agree with Lady Margery? Tell me, your lord father hired me with specific instructions that you were to learn, your lady mother said little but she doesn't want a faithless lady for a daughter, you can bet your money on that my sweet lady."

Margery scowled at Jane who continued to smile sweetly at her. As usual she would smile, and Margery would scowl and then pretend as if nothing happen and smile sweetly too because that is all girls ever did. Smile and smile, and behave like idiots and pretend they liked each other.

"Everything." She said truthfully. "I can't wrap my head around it. One minute God creates night and day and then the next says that night and day already existed. It seems like God doesn't understand the simple mechanics of the universe. He seems rather imperfect and war mongering if you ask me."

"Nobody asked you." Came the cool reply from besides her. Her sister and her ladies were standing on the door way, slowly making their way to the solar of her lady mother's apartment.

"Your Highness." They acknowledged.

Sir Roger and Jane bowed their heads the lowest, showing her deep reverence as if she was already the Queen of England.

"A lady's thoughts she keeps it to herself and to her confessor if she has one. If you don't I suggest you do sister, for it does not sit well on a lady to speak those treasonous thoughts."

"Forgive me sister. I did not know I spoke treason. Cousin Jane came to visit and we were discussing the gospel when she challenged me to speak my mind."

"So she is to be blamed them for your folly? Jesus said the same thing when he was nailed to the cross. Forgive them Father for they do not know what they are doing. Do you think yourself better than our Lord and Savior?"

"What? No. What I meant to say-"

Meggie raised her hand. "Enough. I will not have you creating dissent amongst our kin. Cousin Jane, that is a lovely dress though I would have recommended a more greener color. Do you want to visit my quarters so we can find you something nicer?"

"Yes, Your Highness. And while we get there, you can tell me all about the ceremony. My lady mother said I was too young to attend but she did take my pesky little sisters Kathy and Mary."

"She is right. It was nothing special. Just another vain event for vain people." Meggie said.

"I am sure you will change that once you are Queen."

"God be willing that it is so, Jane." Meggie said with a wide smile. Before she left with her cousin and ladies, she turned to Margery and gave a sardonic smile.

Margery lowered her eyes and looked at her dress. It was beautiful but simple unlike Jane who claimed she always dressed simply. Her lord father and lady mother wanted her to be the perfect example of the Protestant lady, and she was but every time she spoke in flawless Latin, Greek or any other language, there was Jane and Annie to make her feel less.

Sir Roger Asham snapped her out of her thoughts, hitting his fist on the table. "Sit" He commanded. She obediently did as she was told, folding her hands on her lap and began to pay attention once more to his long sermon about the truth of God and the gospel.

* * *

><p>Henry VIII embraced his youngest granddaughter, lady Marianne. "My sweet granddaughter. How long it has been since you were this big?" Henry asked jovially making a small space with his two fingers.<p>

"Stop it lord grandfather. You will make me blush. I will always be your little granddaughter, you know that."

"Ah, Marianne how me and my Queen have missed you and your lady mother, how is she?"

"She is fine. She woke up with some minor headache this morning but the physician gave her a special tonic. She says she will be up in no time."

Henry was glad to hear that. His Queen, the twenty seven year old Katherine Howard stepped forward to greet her step-granddaughter. Her mother had always been difficult but she was much more easy to be around with than her pesky younger sister, the Duchess of Somerset who demanded everyone to pay her obeisance as if she was Queen. Katherine embraced the six year old and directed her to her seat, in between her and the King.

She and the King had given up on having children and he pretended the rumors about her and other men were non-existent. Thanks in part to the plethora of grandchildren, especially male grandchildren he had, he didn't care anymore whether he had another son. And besides, he had secured his line thanks to his brilliant plan of marrying his two favorite people in the world, lady Margaret Boleyn to Prince Edward.

It seemed like the perfect arrangement. Katherine approved of it as well. She could sympathize with the poor girl when she begged her to do something to prevent this union but Katherine instead of helping her as she should have, instead told her that this was a great opportunity. Her lady mother had never cared a fig about her. She was a whore disguised as a good woman and her father no less. This was her chance to be a greater woman than she, to become the most respected and most powerful woman in England. Today when she, the Duchesses of Somerset and Suffolk and the Countess of Lennox went to her apartments after her stepson had emerged from the room claiming that he had made his wife a Princess; they found her staring silently into space, blood on the sheet her mother had placed to prove there had been a consummation.  
>While the rest of the ladies behaved like hens, taking the sheet and showing it off to everyone to prove the marriage had been valid; Kitty sat with her niece.<p>

_"How are you feeling?" She asked her, stroking her hair, damp with cold sweat._

_"Fine." She said, still staring off into space._

_"I wasn't always so happy you know. Before Sir Francis and your cousin's late grandfather came to rescue me from my step-grandmother, Agnes Tileny, I had a music instructor, I am sure you know."_

_"Yes Mannox. I heard the rumors. The King says they are untrue."_

_"The King is a wonderful lord and husband and he loves you very much. He didn't do this to punish you but to save you. He knew your lady mother wanted to sell you off to some other lord so she would never see you again. He wanted to keep that from happening."_

_"And so he sold me off to another highest bidder. How wonderful." She said, again in a nonchalant voice. The Duchess of Somerset then came and told Kitty "She must be ready in an hour, she must see her grandfather. Margaret. Margaret!"_

_"Yes?"_

_Mary Somerset sighed with frustration. "Your father will be with many representatives. You must put on your best gowns and for goodness' sake smile." She said then left with her cousins._

_Her servants came in, bringing food and new clothes with bright smiles on their faces congratulating their new Princess of Wales but Margaret shouted "Go away!" And Katherine dismissed them at once._

_She began to cry and Kitty embraced her, rocking her back and forth like she was a baby. "I know how much it hurts. When Mannox hurt me ... down there, I swore I would not let another man take advantage of me but then Dereham came and he seemed so sweet, so handsome. I was fourteen. Just a year older than you when I felt prey to his attentions until the Duchess Dowager found out and she blamed me. We swore never to talk about it. We thought that if we never did, it would go away but it didn't."_

_Meggie perked her head up. Kitty wiped her tears with her handkerchief. "Why didn't you never tell me?" She asked her._

_"It never seemed the right time and I thought things would be better to you. Your grandfather does love you Meggie, maybe not in the way you hoped for but he does. You have said it yourself many times, he is the only ones besides your uncle Thomas who understands you."_

_"But why did I have to marry Edward? Why me? I am not royal, I am just ..." _

_A bastard -Katherine read her thoughts and spoke the word aloud and Meggie nodded._

_"I am no one."_

_"You are not no one." Kitty said firmly, tipping her chin and raised her head up. "You are the daughter of two people with royal blood, a granddaughter of a King and great-granddaughter of Kings and Queens. You have a proud lineage and you must never think for a second that you are a nobody. Many girls would die to be in this position. I know I felt the same as you when they told me I was going to be Queen of an old man. I was so excited at first until I realized how old your grandfather was but then the two of us came to care for one another and our marriage is not perfect but no marriage is. Take advantage of what you have. You and I might be scorned for what we are, but look at us now. Here we are, royals, two girls who nobody would have expected to rise so high. Be grateful for this opportunity. When you are Queen, you will have power. You will be the one making choices behind every woman's back, you will be the one every lady will follow. What ever tune you sing, they will dance at and whatever you wear, they will wear. And more importantly as the bastion of the new faith, it will be you that people will worship." Instead of your mother -Kitty left unsaid._

_"But what about our true loves?" Meggie asked her and Kitty knew it was coming yet she was not fully prepared to answer that. She still loved Culpepper. With all his failures and despicable actions, he was still the man she longed to be married but that could never be and she told her this. "The life of a royal, especially a woman is not easy. We cannot have it all. I chose to stay married to your grandfather and fight for our marriage because I cared for my well-being and because I wanted to help you. You love Charlie. I know you do. Do not lie to me and shake your head and say you don't because I have seen the way you two look at each other. It is completely understandable. It is how I feel with your father's knight and usher, Sir Thomas Culpeper but Meggie, if you truly love him, you will let him go. There will come a time when you two can meet after you have given your husband sons but not now." Meggie cried harder. "I know how hard it is but you must do it. Remember everything you have once you are Queen, once you give the Tudor dynasty princes and princesses. Then you two can see each other again."_

Poor girl -Katherine Howard thought. They spent the next hour comforting each other. It dawned on her that Meggie needed her as much as she needed her. Meggie, albeit not a Howard despite the deceit her mother had placed on Boleyns and Howards alike, was a cunning and intelligent girl worthy of her last name of Boleyn, and Kitty loved all three of them, Meggie, Annie and her youngest stepdaughter (and also her cousin) Bess.  
>They showed up as the Duchess had instructed them, at the King's feast celebrating his son's elopement and consummation. Margaret wore a green, gold and white gown with mild ruff on her neck and pearl and diamond earrings with her hair loose and a diamond diadem. She looked beautiful. And she had a smile that made her look even more beautiful. But then her lady mother, domineering as always, and her lord husband the Duke, even more, suggested to the King that she go see her youngest sister and of course her husband agreed because he wanted all of his family to be on good grounds.<p>

When she came back, she and Marianne had finished playing a hand game. "How is your sister Margery, my sweet daughter?" Henry asked his granddaughter and new daughter in law.

"She is doing well on her lessons. Jane tells me she is quite the talented theologian."

"Really?" He eyed Jane. Jane nodded to her grand-uncle.

"Well then, more cause to celebrate. Nothing better than having a brood of intelligent children to give the rest of Europe a run for their money. No other court will ever boast the same!" He said and they all agreed, raising their glasses and toasting for the future of their dynasty.

* * *

><p>Margery heard the clinking of glasses and knew that the celebration was over. She returned to her chambers and sat down again, reading her favorite novels. Her father wanted her to be the perfect lady and Protestant theologian and leader, while her mother hoped to keep something of her religion alive. When they and her tutors were not present, she took on her books of Classical plays and Petrarch's writings and her flute and began playing at will. She could play the virginals and any other instrument. She just looked at the pages of her favorite writers and music began to spring. She had composed various verses and she also wrote poetry when she could think of nothing else to do. Her lord grandfather boasted of being this athletic giant in his youth and Margery could very well be his reincarnation because she too enjoyed doing sports, playing tennis, and racing her brothers when they were at their main home at the country side. But sadly she was a girl and her accomplishments were nothing compared to her older brothers' and male cousins' lesser ones.<p>

Sometimes she wished she could be a man, if only for one day so she could change the way things were done in England. Her lady mother spoke often of Spain and how women could rule there once. If she was King she would make new laws so women could do and say whatever they wanted as long as it didn't harm anyone, and they could play sports and joust and nobody would ever say anything against them. But most importantly, their accomplishments would be valued the same just as the boys.

It was a stupid dream, but one worth dreaming and the only one that kept her sane when she was at court smiling, folding her hands in her lap when she was seated, dancing endlessly and playing archery with her cousins and playmates, or when she had to listen to her cousin Jane and her sister Annie mock her for not being as perfect as they.

"Lady mother?" Margery asked hearing the door open and closed shut.

"I am afraid not." Ned said, smiling widely at his daughter.

"Father! I am so happy to see you. What brings you here? Did you bring any good news from the post-wedding reception? Did you have any cake?"

"Calm down Margery. You know there is no cake until tomorrow. I made sure of that."

"So I will get to go to the tourney and then the celebrations tomorrow?" Ned nodded and Margery jumped with excitement and embraced her father.

"Thank you! Thank you! I am going to tell Nor!"

Ned didn't stop her. Margery was very hyper-active and too close to Nor. The two seemed more sisters than her actual sisters. A sadness gripped on Ned. He had always wanted to hear his oldest daughter call him 'papa', embrace him and kiss his cheeks with the same love and adoration that Margery displayed for him. But she was completely enchanted with her uncle, his brother Thomas and his wife Kate.

_"She loves him._" He had told his mother, Margery Seymour once but she said that she didn't. _"She just loves what he represents. What you should be to her. Can't you see Edward that if it wasn't for her, you and her mother would have never been?"_ Aye, that was entirely true but he owed his success with Mary on their love more than on Meggie's conception.

Meggie simply did not want to be a part of their family. And that was something he was going to have to live with. And she had to live with that too, because now that she was Princess of Wales, the country would expect her to give birth to a son or at least a Princess to prove that she is fertile. Once she did, Ned and his wife would place that baby under their custody. Arrange a royal nursery for him or her and if Meggie protested then too bad. Princesses were not free to follow their own paths If she had only understood that when her mother tried to teach her, instead of throwing stuff at them and wailing like a mad-woman that she wanted to be gone from their lives and be her uncle Thomas and aunt Katherine's daughter instead.

He looked back at his youngest daughter and his brightest jewel, Margery. She had come back from Nor's chambers. She brought exciting news. She bent over to touch her knees to catch her breath then straightened up and told her father. "Nor says that her governess will bring her tomorrow after you and mother wake up so we can dress together. Isn't it exciting?"

"It is. But be sure not to wear anything too extravagant. Remember you are a Seymour of Somerset, you must look regal and your best."

"I will daddy! I promise. I will not let you down. I will look my best."

"I know you will." Ned said and tenderly embraced her and kissed her forehead. She was made in Mary's image. Same face, same eyes, same nose, same rosebud lips but her hair instead of dark auburn, was strawberry blond.

As the two made their way to her chambers they encountered a stray wolf pup on her bed. They looked around to see if there was anything near. "Stay here." Ned ordered her but Margery let go of her hand. "Margery!"

She walked to the pup and said "Hello. Who are you? Are you lost?" The pup perked its ears up and got his tongue out. What looked like a smile was flashed at Margery and he leaped to her open arms.

"There, there, no reason to be scared. I know what I will call you Aurora."

"Margery you better leave-"

"Aurora. Princess Aurora like sleeping beauty what mother used to call me when I was asleep."

But Margery was too entranced by the wolf and Ned could not help but find the little critter charming despite its deadly nature.

Ned scanned the room and found nothing. No sign of entry or footprings. Nothing. One window was open and the moon was shining brightly and Margery walked to it, and blinked as she stared into the night sky. "Daddy, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ned heard nothing. He placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. He closed the window and led her to her bed. "We better take it to the kennels. He could be carrying flees."

Aurora huffed then whimpered as if Ned had done something to harm her.

"No daddy she doesn't want to go. Please, can it stay here? Please?"

"Margery you don't know where it came from. It could be sent by some assassin-"

"It is not. Please daddy, let me keep her. She doesn't have a home and maybe she was sent by someone. Maybe she is a sign from Heaven."

Ned rolled his eyes. "Margery-"

"Our family crest has always been the peacock and the wolf. Maybe this is a sign that good things are about to come. Think about it." What were the odds of finding the animal of their family crest on HER bedroom and on the day they were celebrating a she-wolf of theirs for her consummation with another member of their family, Prince Edward?

It did seem logical from a superstitious point of view but Ned was not the man to believe in such stories so he told Margery firmly no but as he was about to take the wolf pup from her, the thing began to squirm and turned pale and to his surprise, began to cry.

"Shh ... it is okay. I am here Aurora, I am here."

Ned sighed and rubbed his temples. Good God. "Fine she can stay with you."

"Thank you-"

"But if he bites you-"

"He won't-"

"If he does I will kill himself. You will feed it, guard it, and look after I."

"I will, I promise daddy and can I bring her tomorrow so she can meet the rest of the family?"

Ned looked at her as if she was out of her mind.

"She will behave I promise. Right Rori?" Aurora woofed and then gave a slow nod.

"See? She understands."

Ned threw his hands in the air and said nothing else on the subject. He gave his daughter another kiss on her forehead and told her to say her prayers before he called on her servants to dress her.

It was odd, Margery said she heard something from outside but he heard nothing and then there was a full moon and that pup. There was something strange about it. It seemed attached to Margery and it almost died when he tried to take it away from her. What most baffled him however was that silver line on its forehead and those eyes. The rest of the fur was gold and the eyes red with a tint of blue and green.

_Odd_. He got out of his boots and took off his doublet and was left in only his leather pants and chemise. Mary came to bed, fully dressed in her nightgown.

"I just came back from checking on our children and Margery presented me to her new friend. Why didn't you tell me you were going to get her a pup? We could have presented it to her together."

"I did not want to trouble you." Ned said omitting the truth from Mary.

"You chose a perfect gift. Margery loves it. She already named it. And she is so cute, he started licking my face as soon as I told Margery how much I loved her."

"All of it?" Ned inquired moving closer to his wife. "I am going to be very jealous if that thing forms an attachment to you too."

"Do not be so jealous my love. You know you are the only living creature who has my heart, mind and soul."

"And body." He finished, and began to unlace the back of her nightgown. After all their years together, she still looked beautiful. Mary braced herself for when he came, he thrust harder than the night before and she buried her fingernails in his back, calling his name, begging him not to stop.

While the rest of their children, Edmund, Neddie and Margery slept and their doors were shut close, two doors opened. Theirs and Margery's. Aurora's ears perked up and Margery woke up at once. "What is it Rori?" Aurora said nothing but looked up pointing to her open door.

Margery heard grunts and muffled screams coming from her parents' chambers. She nervously tip-toed with Aurora following close behind, to their chamber door. It was slightly open. One candle was lit. She peered just close enough to see what was going on.

She could see them struggling against the weight of each other, Ned inserting his finger up her hymen and Mary biting his shoulder then they switched positions and he had her back against the mattress and drove his lance hard against her and she gripped the sheets, arching her back and opening her mouth, moaning and desiring to scream from what Margery could tell but no sound came and instead she smiled a while later after he dropped his head backwards, giving a wide grin of relief.

Margery tilted her head and got closer. Even though they seemed still and unmoving, their lower halfs, connected to each other, were moving and each time more rapidly. Her father broke their silence and said "Tomorrow when Meggie choses the rest of her ladies, you will give her a list of possible candidates. Make sure she picks the first four."

"And if she doesn't ... ah ... ah..." He thrust harder in her then painfully withdrew and inverted their positions once more and pushed her back against his, stabbing her once more. "Meggie is ... ah ... ah ... difficult ... s-she ... oh god ... Edward ..."

She struggled to speak against her husband's grip and the rhythm in which he was thrusting. When they concluded, Mary told him resting her head in his sweaty chest. "Meggie will never accept anyone taking control. She will call on her aunt Katherine and you know how I don't work well with that woman."

"You must do an effort sweetheart. Promise her whatever she likes, say yes to what she says if you must but remind her that you are her lady mother and nobody will see to her interests better than you." He said and before she could protest he took her again impaled his lance against her cave.

"After all these years you never cease to amaze me."

"And neither do you my love." Ned said grinning then smirking as she called him the most ambitious man in England and future Protector.

"You and I will be King and Queen." She said and Ned smiled at the prospect. _Yes,_ he grinned, his eyes gleaming with ambition. _King and Queen in all but name._ He kissed her again, his lips brushing against her, devouring her mouth. She moaned in his mouth, giving his tongue an opening. He whispered something in her. Something Margery couldn't make out, it made her mother laugh and he took full advantage of this to position himself on top of her again.

Margery silently closed their door and went back to her chamber, closing her eyes with Aurora curled up in a ball against her.


End file.
